12746/Hand to the Flame

Hand to the Flame
Date of Scene:	10 September 2022
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Colleen lights a fire at a Hand cover business to see who comes to save the precious goods. Batgirl and Zatanna turn up to see who the pyromaniac is. A dead man is seen at the scene of the crime.
Cast of Characters:	Colleen Wing, Barbara Gordon, Zatanna Zatara

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Colleen Wing has posed:
It's been a while since Colleen has been back to Gotham. Not because she was avoiding the place but because the Hand hasn't drawn her here. An endless war going back and forth. They burned her out of her dojo and she started burning down their drug labs. She fired the first shots.. but the war went cold when the Hand changed tactics. They decided to hide.

Colleen's silhouette is backed by a large moon with smatterings of clouds tonight. She's perched upon the edge of a building overlooking another - the other building? it's on fire. Her camera rests beside her and her other hand twirls the katana, still in its scabbard, against the roof top.

It's too early for the fire trucks to arrive. The alert has likely only just made it to the nearest fire house. No sirens echo down the streets yet. This act of arson isn't random though. It has a purpose. She's drawing them out.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The fire was coming across all of the Bat-family channels, of course, the Oracle AI system reporting it to everyone who was out tonight.

One of these Bat-family members, just so happens to be Barbara Gordon. Not in the tower this evening, Batgirl is out on patrol, with the Batmobile she employs racing down the streets toward the fire's location. In fact, Colleen will see it down in one of the alleys moving toward the burning structure at high speeds.

However, Batgirl isn't inside it. She's behind Colleen.

"You look far too happy about this." A feminine voice says, the figure of Batgirl just standing there in the dark, her black and gold bodyarmor helping to give away which Bat she is, let alone her fiery red hair coming out the back of her dark cowl, both her hair, and her two-toned cape of the same black and dark gold whipping in the wind coming off the roofs of the buildings that surround the smoking building.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The magician's home has been in Gotham for over twenty years now. Her father Giovanni moved it from Europe to be closer to Bruce Wayne and the Wayne family. When she is in town, which hasn't been often of late, she has made an effort to include the Watchtower and the formidable women that frequent it in her rounds. Like tonight, she made an impromptu visit, hoping to see her friend and colleague, Barbara Gordon.

A hope soon dashed when she learns that the formidable Oracle is out making the rounds of the city. Cheating ever so slightly, Zatanna casts a finder spell and portals to the location.

A purple line burns briefly in the air and enlarges to a door through which a slender figure emerges behind the Batmobile. Clad in black from head to toe, Zee blends with the shadows when the portal's light disappears.

"What is happy about a burning building?" she asks the caped figure.

Colleen Wing has posed:
There's a checklist when you burn a building. Make sure no one is inside. Make sure it's not going to spread. Make sure it's the right building. Yes, she was rather pleased with herself. She even cut the sprinkler system and deliberately tripped the motion sensor alarm system to alert the Hand.

Colleen's smile grows a little wider at Batgirl's words. "Meet Consolidated Research and Shipping Group. A cover company for the Hand. Which part of the Hand? I'm not sure. That's what I hope to find out tonight."

She rises up smoothly and turns around to face the Bat and offers her hand in greeting. "It's been a while. I honestly thought the Hand had learned their lesson about messing with Gotham but they think they're untouchable," she says.

Her expression falters at the impressive display of magic and she looks Zatanna up and down with a flick of her eyes. "Me," she says and tilts her head a touch. Then, she offers her hand to her too. "Colleen Wing." Secret identity she does not have. Defender she is. Lapsed Bird of Prey she is too.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The burning building does cast a dim orange glow even up here, and Babs is bathed over in it, as she stares primarily at Colleen. Over the building, several bat-like drones are flying about, monitoring the fire and sending information directly to the Tower, and to GCFD...

Batgirl is reaching out to shake Colleen's hand with her gloved own, when Zatanna arrives. The flash of purple, the sound of Zatanna's voice, even her familiar scent, has Babs not needing to immediately look over to see her to know she's there.

"The Hand." Batgirl says. "You're really going all in on this again?" She asks Colleen. "You know they'll figure out it was you, you know they'll respond..." She tells the wayward Bird member.

After dropping her hand again to her side, Babs then affords a look to Zatanna. "How good are your fire fighting magic spells?" She asks dryly, showing the hint of a smirk.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Sapphire eyes track the silhouette of the building, its windows alive with flame and then refocus on the woman avowing that it makes her happy. Grasping her hand in a firm dry grip, "Zatanna Zatarra, pleased to meet you. I've heard your name before when martial artists were being compared. You have quite the reputation."

Mention of the Hand merits a raised eyebrow from Zatanna but no comment for now.

Zatanna exchanges a long look with Babs, "If you are serious, I can put it out. I'm pretty sure." She straightens her shoulders and sniffs. "Conventional means, no magic," she judges. "Give me the word, Barbara and I'll snuff it out or at least make sure no other buildings catch."

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen regards Zatanna with a small nod, "Really?" She seems genuinely surprised to be a discussing point in martial artist circles. "Well. Thank you. Wait, that's a good reputation I hope?" A sly little smirk. It's always a good evening when you're destroying Hand property.

"The hand only get to do what they do because they hide in plain sight. I'm illuminating the issue," she says playfully and motions to the blaze. "Don't put it out. Please. At least not yet. I'm waiting to see which of their lieutenants turns up. Besides they deserve to lose their assets."

She raises an eyebrow though and her fingers tightens and relaxes on the scabbard of her sword. "What are they going to do - burn my dojo down again? They're too good at reinventing themselves. Someone needs to remind them they're not all powerful."

As if on cue a dark figure jumps from brick wall to brick wall and grabs on to the fire escape. They smoothly pull themselves up the metal ladder and begin to rush up the external scaffolding. Colleen quickly scoops up her camera and zooms in snapping pictures of the person. They are dressed in black like a ninja. "Bingo. Veronica Mars eat your heart out."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"I'm monitoring the fire with my drones." Batgirl replies to both women. "We'll let it burn for the time being, but if it starts to spread, we'll have to stop it. Or if it starts to put out too many harmful toxins. It's hard to say exactly how old the building is, as far as what went in to its construction, so we have to be careful about burns, even controlled ones." She says before her eyes go toward what is developing with regard to what Colleen was hoping to see here.

"Looks like you've certainly had an effect." Babs says upon seeing the figures in the distance.

"What exactly are your goals here, long term?" She asks of Colleen next before giving Zatanna another 'unsure' glance.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Burning buildings as bait in a trap is novel. Arson most often is pure destruction and in the magician's experience the province of demons, but from what Zatanna understands this fire has a duel purpose. And, Colleen doesn't have the faintest whiff of sulphur about her.

"Didn't mean to sound so vague. Excellent, of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't have said a word," she smiles briefly, firelight flashing on her teeth.

Like Babs, Zee tracks the figure slinking its way up the side of the building. At Colleen's plea to not put out the fire, she tilts her head questioningly at Barbara. "The Hand has fingers everywhere in my experience, our circles sometimes cross and it is never pleasant."

Colleen Wing has posed:
"We're trying to piece together the larger organisation. So far we who two of the heads of the Hand are - Gao and Bakuto. But there are five of them and we know nothing about the other three. So far. I'm hoping whoever it is that just went in to that building will enlighten me."

She pauses and regards Zatanna again with a nod. "So you know how big a threat they are then." Does she also know Colleen used to be one of them? she really hopes not. It's not something she's proud of.

Colleen takes a knee as she snaps pictures of the mystery man. He's in the burning building for a few more moments before he exits back out the same window carrying a bag over his shoulder. She gets a good shot of his face and draws in a sudden breath of surprise.

"Nobu Yoshioka... he's meant to be dead." She stands back up, frowning. A few steps pacing back and forth. The black figure peers over at the silhouettes on the building top for just a moment before he races down the stairs.

Colleen doesn't look like she's interested in pursuing him. "Not exactly a dead end. He supposedly died in a fight at Kennedy Airport a few years ago. We're not sure who he works for - he's crossed paths with Bakuto but Bakuto definitely doesn't own him." She'd know, she used to be Bakuto's lieutenant.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl isn't concealing herself in this instance, even if there really isn't a whole lot of light up here off the ground level.

Down on the ground the Batmobile is silently laying in wait, and up in the sky, the Bat-drones are near-silently whizzing around as they observe all of it... the fire, the people skulking about, even Zatanna, Batgirl, and Colleen.

Babs just observes this, judging it quietly, as she looks back to Colleen. "Do you want him followed? My drones have him in sight, they can keep up with him and see where he goes. You know that you have our support in all of this, you don't have to operate like this... in the dark, so to speak. you can have our help when you need it. It's far better to let us know about plans like this, than to just... do them, like this." Batgirl says, motioning to the fire.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna shifts impatiently as the fire consumes the building across the street. At this rate it will be a shell before the fire trucks arrive.

"They are old, ancient," she says darkly. "My family has dealt with them in one form or another for a long time and always on opposite sides." She nods, underling her words. "They deal in the blackest magic."

She leaves the matter of reporting plans for arson in Barbara's capable hands.

"Drones work. And magic traces do, too," she observes with a wry twist to her lips. "Up to Barbara."

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen lowers her camera. There's still a look of shock on her face though. That he died at the airport was considered a victory - they didn't kill him, he got caught in the cross fire with HYDRA. A victory none the less. "The blackest of magics indeed...." unless he had a twin. May be it's not Nobu. But it sure looks like Nobu.

"I put a tracker in the safe," she says and opens up her phone. It's not the phone with the Birds of Prey app on it. That burned up when her dojo was burned down. "But whatever he took wasn't that.." she says with a sigh.

"Batgirl, if you would please. I'd like to know who he reports to. Also, you're not exactly easy to get in contact with," without the app, "If you really must put the fire out then I see no reason to delay." More glass shatters from the flames and the distant calls of sirens echo down the city streets as fire trucks make their rushed march toward the building in question.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With the person of interest on their way out, Batgirl waits for Colleen to give the signal, then she looks to Zatanna to confer the notion of 'Go for it' with the fire.

When she looks back to Colleen, Batgirl reaches out and offers the woman a Batarang. "Place this beside your phone, and text your name to the Clocktower's public number. It'll send you the application again." She relays before nodding her head gently once.

"We'll track him, and we'll send you everything that we come up with afterward. Beyond that, yes, lets make sure to work together on these manner of things. It'll all go over much more smoothly then." She notes before looking over to the fire when she sees another blaze of flames flickering out of one of the side windows...

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"I can obscure the origin of the fire," Zatanna judges as the sirens approach and let the fire department deal with it unless it threatens other buildings and then put it out." The magician whispers a few words under her breath. Several muffled explosions buried in the building accompany a brief flare of light. Within minutes the fire visibly begins to abate as Zatanna's spells begin to have an affect. "Just nothing flashy. The fire department is good at their job."

"We, too, thought that Yoshioka was dead. We and I mean in the community of mages thought that he may be the original Kagenobu Yoshioka, founder of the Hand as we know it, in the 16th Century. I hope they are wrong."

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen accepts the batarang and places it to her phone. She's no tech wiz and Batgirl she trusts. She texts to the Clocktower and watches as the app reinstalls itself. "Huh. Nice," she comments and offers the batarang back. "I thought tonight went well. I got to torch some of the Hand's public persona and we're closer to learning more about their internal structure."

"Thank you Zatanna. But, .. there's no way a lieutenant is the founder of the Hand. It's strange how little we know about them. Besides the claims that they come from another world. I've not seen any proof of that. Though Ironfist does ramble on about all kinds of stuff whether you want him to or not."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The magic that Zatanna brings to the game here in all of this does not go unappreciated. Babs watches the effect of what the magical woman does, and she nods softly once before she shows a quick smile that is only barely vislble to those who know her well enough to catch such passing expressions on her visible lower face.

When she looks back to Colleen, she accepts the throwing weapon back, then reaches around behind the small of her back to place it back where she stores them upon her belt.

She softly shakes her head within her cowl then. "In this world, you can never know what to expect. Such claims still feel absurd though, even if they have to be taken seriously." She states, chasing those words with a more visible smirk. "I hate to think that the Hand has any further roots being dug in to Gotham, but then again... we seem to attract that kind of nesting rat..."

When Colleen's phone beeps to signal the download was finished, Batgirl nods once. "It's good to have you back on the line then."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Good. I will pass that on. The Hand are very good at hiding their magical signatures," she comments, watching the fire beginning to dim. Catching Barbara's approval from the corner of her eye, she answers it with a faint nod.

"Will you be back with us then, Colleen?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen taps on the app and the familiar software of the Oracle appears to her. It's been updated since she last used it. She sends a message to Oracle, << "Wing here. Batgirl got me set up again." >> She looks between Batgirl and Zatanna and nods her head.

"Yes. If you need me I'll come. If I'm in the area I'll be with you even quicker. But you know New York is my haunt. Even since I re-opened the dojo I've had more students than ever before. Word travels and it seems I'm the go to dojo to learn kenjutsu now. It's keeping me busy. And the lawsuit with the other dojo that stole my name is finally settled. It's nice to have some money in the bank for a change."

"The Hand are up to something. Whenever they get sneaky and quiet they have something brewing. It comes to a head before you know it and this time I intend to be ahead of them."